Everyone knows about the major Harvest Festival (Vendimia) events here: the big parades, the beauty queen contest, the huge winetasting, the big show at the end… But some of my favorite Vendimia events are actually the rather less known or attended ones – the cultural events in the park. With live jazz by the lake, steamy tango on a balmy summer’s eve and open air cinema screenings under the stars, could Vendimia get more romantic?
Starting this week are a string of cultural events in the evening in Parque San Martin which often turn out to be some of the best kept secrets of the Harvest Festival agenda:
Cinema in the Park – Bring your Spanish dictionary for this one, because next to the rose garden there will be showings on a big screen of different Mendocinean and Argentine films for a few evenings at the end of January and beginning of February. The closest you can get to a drive-in here and no doubt there will be plenty of young Mendocinos trying John Travolta’s old ‘yawning into a hug’ trick. Chuck a pillow and some mate (Argentine herbal tea) in your bag and watch the films starting at 9.30pm on 24, 25 and 31 of January as well as the 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9 of February.
Dancing in the Park – It might sound like a misspelt Bruce Springsteen song, but there is no mistake in this Vendimia event. Three nights of different traditional dances and music including folk, Arabic belly dancing, flamenco and, of course, tango. For me there is no night quite so quintessentially Argentine then to sit with lots of families crowded around mini picnic tables sharing picadas and malbec, watching smoky-eyed dancers seducing each other through tango, or latin heartthrobs rapping their feet against the boards in fast moving flamenco to the cries of ‘ole’ from the audience. It kicks off at 9.30pm on 26, 27 and 28th Jan.
Jazz by the Lake – In front of Parque San Martin’s picturesque floating island in the middle of the lake, a make shift stage frames some of Mendoza’s best jazz musicians for three nights of open air concerts. Not just jazz, but always a fusion with tango, bossa nova and big band – each night a handful of different performers and groups play to the crowd for a couple hours of gorgeous live music and star gazing. Starting at 8pm on 10, 11 and 12th Feb.
Amanda Barnes is a British journalist living in Mendoza who still very much believes in old fashioned romance.





































